Today - the team spent time to get the background on the most recent history of Cambodia and particularly the legacy of the tragic Khmer Rouge period, which left more than 20% of the population dead and brought devastation and widespread poverty to the country.First the team members who had never been to Cambodia before retraced some of the last steps of the may millions killed during the Khmer Rouge regime, first visiting the the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (also known as S-21), followed by the Choeng Ek Killing Fields. For all of us, it was a chilling reminder of the ruthlessness of the Khmer Rouge as they applied their motto of: "To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss."
In the evening, we all gathered at the rooftop of the our Hotel, where Janne Ritskes, Founder of Tabitha gave us a one hour, often chilling, description of the last 60 years of Cambodia and the impact on its people. All of Janne's Tabitha
staff have their very sad stories to tell, often being the sole survivors of large families. And as Janne shared these personal survival stories with us, most of us at one point or the other had a hard time fighting back our tears.Janne sent us off with her do's and dont's while we are in the community building houses (Do: "Smile"; Don't: "Tell any mother her child is beautiful") and off we went, tucking into our beds early for another 6am start.
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You have captured it really well .. "most of us at one point or the other had a hard time fighting back our tears". The story that Janne has to share is really heart warming. Meeting her and her staff you get a real picture of the suffering that took place and continues today in the lives, and more importantly, in the minds of people of Cambodia. There right to a free indendent life was taken away from them and it is incumbent upon us, as fellow human beings, to do our bit to get that back to them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Anvay - beautifully said!
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